Ripped jeans have been in style since the '70s and have continued in popularity through the 2000s. However, despite the enduringness of the style, the way that fashion producers create ripped jeans has changed throughout the years. Advances in fashion production tech have made it easier for jean companies to produce the ripped jean style. Here’s where the technology begins, and where it's advanced to today.
The History Of Ripped Jeans
Ripped jeans have always held favor among young people. Many might think that the first pair of ripped jeans was a DIY experiment made using a knife or scissors to create the look; however, that’s not the case. In 1870, a German businessman named Leob (known as Levi Strauss), the owner of Levi Strauss & Co., made the first pairs of known ripped jeans. Levi Strauss was also known for creating customizable trousers for working men.
About a century later, during the era of Punk Rock, ripped jeans became the sign of 1970s youth rebellion and social movement. Later, celebrities like Madonna continued to popularize the ripped trend in pop culture.
Soon after, the trend of DIY ripped and pulled jeans and manufactured ripped jeans started to rise. These trends became an outlet that allowed young people to express how they felt towards society through the use of fashion
How Manufacturers Make Ripped Jeans Today
If you went outside today and observed how many people wear ripped jeans, you could say more than 50 percent. So how are jean companies finding a creative way to make ripped jeans in styles that stand out independently?
While some fashion brands like to create ripped jeans with their hands, other huge fashion brands such as Levi's Strauss & Co. use a laser and abrasion technique to mass produce ripped jeans. This technique requires the denim companies to first have a digitized sketch of the jeans design on which they’ve identified the pattern and placement for the tears. This assures consistency in the product’s mass batch production. Other brands prefer to create their ripped jeans products with varying rips and patterns. These brands use computer programs (similar to Photoshop) to adjust the illustration and design on the jeans before placing them under the laser beam.
Whichever method the company chooses, once the company puts the digital pair of jeans into the computer system to use with the patterns, the actual jeans are placed under a laser beam to have the digitized design traced out. The lasers have an added advantage of burning out the clothing dye on the jeans near the rips to give these areas a paler look.
